Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain celebrates after winning the Austrian F1 Grand Prix, in Spielberg, Austria, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

AUSTRIA — Formula One (F1) took to the track in Austria on Sunday, a course with a storied history in the sport and a contract to continue racing through 2041. Originally held in 1964 as a one-off race on a bumpy temporary track around an old airstrip, F1 returned in 1970 and stayed through 1987 on the Ã-sterreichring with long straights and high-speed corners. Deemed too unsafe for the speeds of cars in the mid-80s, F1 left for other tracks.

In 1997, F1 returned to an updated track, but only stayed through 2003. Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz, founder of Red Bull, teamed up with fellow countryman and former F1 driver Helmut Marko and revamped the track once more. They rechristened it the “Red Bull Ring” where F1 cars have driven since 2014. In the redesign, it was reduced in size to one of the shortest tracks on the calendar with the fastest lap ever done in an F1 car at just 1:02:939 in 2020.

Austria has been home to some controversy throughout the years of F1 racing. Michael Schumacher, in the middle of his five repeated driver championships, won the race after team orders forced his teammate Rubens Barrichello to relinquish the lead despite his dominance of the race. Schumacher, hearing the boos from the crowd, stepped down to the second spot on the podium and forced Barichello up to the first-place spot, a move he was later fined for.

In 2016, Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton ran into each other on the opening lap (for the second time in five races) and, after a final-lap defensive move on Hamilton, Rosberg was given a 10-second penalty pushing him from a win to fourth place while Hamilton was promoted to the win.

This past weekend, the drivers didn’t wait for the race to cause controversy as qualifying was quite dramatic. Throughout the three practice sessions, McLaren looked to be the competitor to Mercedes, but both Ferrari and Red Bull pulled out all the stops in qualifying to show their true speed (something both teams notoriously do in a race weekend).

After the first laps in Q3, the top-ten shootout for pole position, Mercedes driver and current driver championship leader Kimi Antonelli has provisional pole with teammate George Russell just 0.043 seconds behind and Max Verstappen 0.061 seconds behind in his Red Bull. McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were in fourth and sixth with Charles Leclerc in fifth in his Ferrari and teammate Lewis Hamilton in tenth with no lap time due to running wide in a corner on his first lap. Everything was riding on their second laps with mere minutes left.

In a troublesome position, Hamilton was the first driver to go out for a second lap and put his car on provisional pole. Leclerc passed the line next and bumped his teammate down a position, claiming provisional pole for himself. The two McLaren cars had nothing more to give as they fell to sixth and seventh. Verstappen was on a very fast lap, but lost control of his car in the penultimate corner and smashed into the barriers bringing out yellow flags in the final part of the track.

Camera footage switched to the Ferrari garage where mechanics were celebrating the front row lockout of their two drivers since the Mercedes duo were behind the crashed Red Bull, nullifying their laps. Except, as the camera hung on the celebrating Ferrari group, the timing tower on the left side of the screen showed RUS, the abbreviation for George Russell, pop up to the first-place pole position by 0.236 seconds over Leclerc’s time.

A replay of Russell’s radio transmission had him all but shouting to his team that he slowed down significantly in the sector of the crash, lost a lot of time, but followed the rules. Antonelli’s radio was an expletive-filled rant lamenting how his great lap was ruined. He asked how Russell managed to improve his lap, and his engineer said Russell slowed in the corner, but finished strong.

“But it was a double yellow,” said Antonelli.

And there was the rub. If there was a single yellow flag in the corner of the accident, drivers have to slow down in that section, but when there is a green flag again, they can floor it and continue. If there is a double yellow, that means there is a critical danger and they must abandon the lap. Antonelli clearly gave up once he entered the yellow section, whereas Russell did lift off the accelerator, then floored it coming out of the next corner to cross the line. Who was right?

Turns out the single yellow was correct and Russell’s pole position stood, his experience and cunning paying off. Moments like this are a good reminder that Antonelli is a 19-year-old in his second year of racing and is leading one of the world’s highest-pressure championships, and he is capable of making mistakes. Antonelli’s European season of F1 last year was his worst series of races, and he might be worried those gremlins are coming back to haunt him this year.

On Sunday as the race got underway, it seems like Antonelli did have some jitters as he went very wide in the first corner, again a few corners later, and in the first corner again on the second lap. In the last maneuver, he was trying to pass Leclerc’s Ferrari and gave the position back since he went off track. That opened the door for Verstappen who happily took that place and Leclerc’s, all of which pushed Antonelli down to fifth.

It was nearly further as the two McLaren cars came along both sides of Antonelli, but he finally put his head down, calmed himself, and settled into his race. This was all part of a frenetic start to the race with loads of wheel-to-wheel action throughout the pack.

Ironically, one could summarize Austria by saying the top ten starters were the exact same as the top ten finishers, but that belies the excitement of the weekend. One of the highlights for me was how the majority of passing for the points positions happened on track instead of through pit stops.

When the F1 cars show up to Austria, fans expect an exciting race and it is a pretty safe bet the track will deliver as it did this year. In 1984, the great Niki Lauda scored his first home win despite only having third and fifth gears for the final laps. One of the closest finishes in F1 history came in Austria in 1982 when Italian Elio de Angelis crossed the line just 0.05 seconds ahead of Keke Rosberg.

Just last year, the McLaren teammates Norris and Piastri fought each other not just for the driver’s championship, but also for the win of the Austrian race in a fierce battle filled with wheel-to-wheel action where Norris pulled out a victory and started his comeback to win the championship.

In 2024, Norris was battling Verstappen’s Red Bull for the win, trying to spoil the home race for the Red Bull squad. Their battle ended with punctured tires for both drivers after they came into contact and they handed a race win to Russell.

Russell desperately needed a repeat outcome this year if he wanted to keep his chances of a driver’s championship alive and start making a comeback like Norris did last year. Though Verstappen hounded Russell for much of the race, the Mercedes driver got the win he was hoping for.

A huge throng of orange was visible all around the Red Bull Ring. The “Oranje Army” fans of Verstappen were treated to his best race of this season. Showing flares of Verstappen in his championship heyday, he fought hard with Hamilton for several laps and hounded Russell for the lead throughout the middle portion of the race. Finishing in second place, just 1.611 seconds behind Russell, is a huge gain from his two fourth place finishes earlier in the season (technically he finished third in Canada, but that was after a late race expiration of Russell’s Mercedes who was leading at the time).

Antonelli got himself under control after his crazy start, kept his car on track so he didn’t get any track limit penalties, and his Mercedes delivered for him as he was able to claw his way back up to third by the end of the race. He finished just 0.375 seconds behind Verstappen’s Red Bull, so if there were just a few more laps, he probably could’ve secured second place.

Ultimately, the weekend was a success for Russell. He needed to climb his way back into the championship, and winning the race for a full 25 points was the best way to do so. Verstappen showing up to keep Antonelli in third was a bonus for Russell who gained ten points on his teammate, cutting the lead to a more manageable 40 points. Hamilton didn’t repeat his stellar Barcelona performance as he was only able to make his way up to fifth and saw his position in the driver championship fall back to third place, 46 points behind Antonelli.

Though Mercedes still dominated with a first and third in the race, there are clear contenders, and, interestingly for the fans, those challengers keep changing from race to race. Mercedes remains the clear favorites, but Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren are closing the gap.

There is a quick turnaround as F1 cars are competing again in Britain this weekend with the fourth sprint format this year. That means only one practice session followed by sprint qualifying on Friday, the sprint race and main qualifying on Saturday, and the race itself on Sunday, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Mercedes are still tipped as favorites, but which competitor will challenge them next?